PDFKit, ImageKits: Buffer overflow

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200710-20 / pdfkit imagekits
Release Date	October 18, 2007
Latest Revision	October 18, 2007: 01
Impact	normal
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
gnustep-libs/pdfkit	<= 0.9_pre062906		All supported architectures
gnustep-libs/imagekits	<= 0.6		All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #188185

Synopsis

PDFKit and ImageKits are vulnerable to an integer overflow and a stack overflow allowing for the user-assisted execution of arbitrary code.

2. Impact Information

Background

PDFKit is a framework for rendering of PDF content in GNUstep applications. ImageKits is a collection of frameworks to support imaging in GNUstep applications.

Description

Maurycy Prodeus discovered an integer overflow vulnerability possibly leading to a stack-based buffer overflow in the XPDF code which PDFKit is based on. ImageKits also contains a copy of PDFKit.

Impact

By enticing a user to view a specially crafted PDF file with a viewer based on ImageKits or PDFKit such as Gentoo's ViewPDF, a remote attacker could cause an overflow, potentially resulting in the execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the application.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

PDFKit and ImageKits are not maintained upstream, so the packages were masked in Portage. We recommend that users unmerge PDFKit and ImageKits:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --unmerge gnustep-libs/pdfkit
# emerge --unmerge gnustep-libs/imagekits

As an alternative, users should upgrade their systems to use PopplerKit instead of PDFKit and Vindaloo instead of ViewPDF.

4. References

Updated October 18, 2007

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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